"The fella's running round stabbing people in the street! Dunno about you but I'd be more than slightly disappointed in the event someone stabbed me, and not exactly prone to empathy. I'd be thinking: "yeah, that's pretty vicious"."

Well, given the target, I'd think him a bit of a clown.

"Never really understood the idea that a potential suspect who stabbed someone in the street is less likely to have been Jack."

Hard for me to answer this, as I don't believe in Jack. I suppose the theorists think that he was cunning and secretive. But Cutbush was neither.

"I suppose it comes down to what you think of Jack and his motivations."

Right. Not to mention whether you believe there was a Jack or not.

"Me: I think he was a cunning, wild, opportunist operating on instinct rather than some controlled, skilled woman slayer operating within the realms of reason."

I wonder whether such a chap would have eluded the police for long?

"Cutbush would fit my view of Jack pretty well."

Very well. So says AP Wolf.

"I think Jack simply loved cutting people up with a knife - no great mystery - and that wouldn't rule him out of stabbing someone outside the WMs in the event he was in that sort of mood."

Isn't it the point though that McNaghten isn't from a police background...he always looks to me more like a politician than a policeman...and you know what that means...

Dave

Hi Dave,

Such dishonourable activity may be more likely in a politician - but it's still dishonourable. The Druitt's shame would have been nothing compared with Macnaghten's, had he been caught doing what is alleged.

I know where Jonathan is coming from, but I can't relate to the logic attributed to MacNaghten which argues, in effect, that the best way to remove suspicion from someone who wasn't suspected is to say that he was and, thereby, (which is what has since happened) create suspicion where none previously existed. I don't see why he would write the Memoranda to clear a man who is only suspected at all by virtue of the Memoranda's existence.

I know where Jonathan is coming from, but I can't relate to the logic attributed to MacNaghten which argues, in effect, that the best way to remove suspicion from someone who wasn't suspected is to say that he was and, thereby, (which is what has since happened) create suspicion where none previously existed. I don't see why he would write the Memoranda to clear a man who is only suspected at all by virtue of the Memoranda's existence.

Hi Bridewell...but it is said that the very best lies are when someone tells you the exact truth, but in such a fashion that nobody will believe it...